Carrots
by glssslppr
Summary: The story of Eveyln, one of the survivors of the plane crash, and her friendship with Sawyer. Starts in Season One.
1. Chapter 1

Evelyn stretched her arms and legs, her toes burrowing into the sand. It was another warm day on the Island, the sand was already hot. The young woman was not sure how long it had been since the plane crash; it was at least a month. She had never imagined that her research trip to the Australian Outback would end in tragedy. She didn't mind not being back home, there was nothing for her there, except nagging professors wondering when she was going to complete her master's thesis. It was just all so pointless, many people had died; only a handful survived. Evelyn had a feeling that there would be more deaths and soon. Standing to her feet, she grabbed her messenger bag and went to her morning appointment.

Fate had a funny sense of humor, Evelyn thought. It threw the most random people together on the Island. There was an artist, a soldier, a non-English speaking couple, a rock star; plenty of people could shoot a gun, a conman, a convict, a doctor…and many more. It was interesting to watch as people paired up and became friends or lovers. Evelyn hadn't really joined a specific group; she was friendly with everyone and helped out when asked. She thought it would be easier to keep to her self, because at first she had figured they would be rescued soon. But now she was starting to reconsider.

The Island itself was strange. There were noises that came from the jungle that did not sound human or animal. People reported seeing and hearing a monster. Evelyn herself saw black puffs of smoke popping up in the jungle, but it never bothered her. There was an odd French woman that would appear every now and then, claiming there were other people in the Island that were infected with a virus or disease. A polar bear was shot and killed. Everything seemed too unreal…like they were characters in a novel.

Evelyn found Rose sitting on a driftwood log along the beach. They had started coming early in the morning, sitting on a log and staring out at the blue ocean. They would not say much to each other, but just enjoyed the company. Evelyn was the only one who knew Rose's battle with cancer and how she believed it was no longer plaguing her body. Evelyn didn't question the woman's adamant belief.

"Good Morning, Evie." Rose said with a smile. She was the only one to call Evelyn by that nickname. The young grad student returned the smile and sat next to the woman. They sat in silence for many moments before Rose spoke what was on her mind.

"Why do you choose to come and sit with me every day when you could spend time with all the other young people?" She turned to study the young woman.

Evelyn shrugged. "I don't know, I believe I have more in common with you than the other survivors."

"That's not the point Evie, you need to socialize more with the others. Who knows how long we will be on this Island and you won't survive if I am the only one you depend on."

Evelyn looked distressed by Rose's admonishment. "I talk to others."

"Walt and Vincent don't count. Honey, I am not condemning you. I think you would be a good asset to the think tank. You have a lot of experience that the others don't have."

"What good would a grad student, studying archaic storytelling be able to add?" Evelyn challenged.

"Well I'm sure you know a lot of interesting stories, which could help morale. Does any of what is going on remind you of a novel or folktale you studied?"

"Not completely, bits and pieces, but if we aren't careful we could become a real life "Lord of the Flies"." Evelyn answered. She did agree with what Rose was telling her, but she did not want to admit it to herself. She even had similar thoughts herself in the past couple of days. The two women entered into a companionable silence, once again.

"Do you think the raft will make it to another ship or boat?" Evelyn asked.

"For the sake of everyone else…I hope so." Rose answered with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"You don't want to leave, do you?" Evelyn said with some surprise.

"I don't think the Island will let us leave. We all have a purpose."

"On the Island or in life?" Evelyn asked the wise woman the question that seemed to plague everyone at some point in their life.

"Both." With that simple answer the woman smiled at Evelyn and stood slowly to her feet. Their morning meeting was over.

Evelyn stood to her feet and looked down to the main part of the beach. Charlie was sitting next to Claire with Aaron in his arms. Boone and Locke were headed into the jungle, off on another excursion. Jack and Kate were talking adamantly on the edge of the jungle; a golf club was in Jack's hand. In the opposite direction, Michael, Sawyer, and Jin were working on the raft that was the hope of all the survivors. Who should she go join? Everyone looked busy and occupied. Adjusting her bag on her shoulder she went towards the raft. As she started to cut into the jungle, someone called out to her.

"Hey, Carrots! Care to give us hand?" Sawyer asked.

Evelyn stopped mid-stride and looked at the southerner. If she had a penny for every time someone called her Carrots, she would not need to go to graduate school. A brief smile touched her lips as she thought of Anne Shirley breaking a slate over Gilbert Blythe's head for calling her "Carrots". Evelyn quickly erased the smile from her face and gave Sawyer a stern look.

"Carrots are orange, not red; James." She said turning on her heels and marching into the jungle. She could hear Michael chuckling behind her.

"I don't think she likes you much." Michael smiled, "And who's James?"

Sawyer ignored the question and continued with his work, his mind replaying his encounter with the red head. How did she know his real name? Why was she always going into the jungle with that bag? He smirked to himself when he realized he had absolutely no reason not to keep calling her Carrots.

Evelyn went further into the jungle, mentally kicking herself the entire way. How was she going to make new friends if she was going to be rude? But Sawyer had been just as rude…How could she call him James, he probably didn't want people to know his real name. She had always thought she was horrible at making friends; perhaps she had always been right. Evelyn opened her messenger bag and took out a thick blue book. She ran her fingers over the embossed title Outlander. Books had been her faithful friends for years and they hadn't let her down once. She sat against a tree, opened the book to a random page and began reading. Evelyn had read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon too many times to count she could pick up the story at any point. She settled herself in for a day of reading. She'd worry about making friends some other time.

As the light grew dim, closing yet another day on the Island, Evelyn stood to her feet and brushed off the back of her pants before replacing her book. After reading about the courage of Clare and Jamie she decided that tonight she would go and socialize with the rest of the survivors. It couldn't be that hard, she would just sit with them and eat her dinner. She didn't _have_ to speak with them, just hang around them and maybe they would speak with her. There was more confidence in her gait as she went back to the beach.

The survivors were gathering around various campfires, to tell stories of the day's adventures. Evelyn spied an opens spot between Hurley and Shannon; Shannon looked like the last person she wanted to sit next to was Hurley. Sayid sat next to Shannon; he had an arm around her waist and was leaning against her shoulder. Charlie and Claire were sitting opposite Sayid and Shannon. Taking a deep breath Evelyn approached the group.

"Do you mind if I join you?" She asked just above a whisper, keeping her eyes to the ground.

"Sure thing." Hurley responded to the question with a warm smile. Evelyn looked him in the eye and returned the smile. Feeling more confident she took a seat in between Hurley and Shannon. The rest of the group smiled at her approach.

"Evelyn, right?" Sayid asked. She nodded.

Everyone continued with their conversations before Evelyn had arrived.

"So…what brings you to these parts?" Hurley asked turning to Evelyn. She looked at him with a twinkle in her eye.

"A plane crash." Hurley chuckled as a smile lit up his cherubic face. "That's a good one. I like that." The other's turned back to Evelyn smiling at her response.

"What do you do all day?" Shannon asked, making polite conversation.

Evelyn was about to answer when Jack, Kate and Sawyer joined them around the fire. Jack and Kate were carrying food.

"Looks like we got one more." Jack gave Evelyn a nod.

"I hope I am not intruding." Evelyn directed her eyes to the ground.

"Of course not." Kate handed her a piece of fruit. Evelyn bit into the mango, the sweet juices tickled her tongue. As she looked up she noticed that Sawyer was staring at her intently beneath a furrowed brow. She could feel heat rising up her neck and into her cheeks. She hoped no one else noticed, or if they did, thought is was because of the fire. She took another bit of her mango, determined not to let Sawyer's eyes bother her.

"So…"Hurley began again. "What were you doing in Australia?"

Evelyn swallowed. "I was researching aboriginal folktales. I am a grad student at small liberal college on the east coast."

"I guess that would mean you know a lot of stories and whatever." Hurley surmised. Evelyn nodded as she took another bite.

"Could you…tell us one?" Evelyn smiled at the thoughtful way Hurley spoke.

"I guess. Do you want to hear and Australian folktale or another culture?" She asked the group, avoiding Sawyer.

"Whatever you want." Jack suggested.

Evelyn thought for a moment about what would be the best story to tell in this situation. She decided to tell an American short story, The Yellow Wallpaper. As she told the story she became more animated, almost acting out the part of the disturbed young wife. During her ministrations she caught Sawyer's eye and the amused look in his face. When she was finished she returned to her seat. Everyone was silent. Evelyn watched the faces around her, some of them looked lost in thought and Claire and Hurley had a stricken look on their faces.

"Maybe I should have chosen something more uplifting." The young storyteller broke the smile.

"It was good. I would enjoy hearing more stories. It gives us something to think about besides all this." Sayid spoke motioning to the Island.

Sawyer stood to his feet and stretched. "Good job, Carrots." He came over to her and smiled down at her. When he was sure he had her full attention he bent down and whispered into her ear. "Welcome to the club…" He straightened up and walked away. The flush in Evelyn's cheeks intensified.

Much to Evelyn's relief the rest of the group seemed to ignore Sawyer's comment and started talking about the story. A smile eased itself across Evelyn's lips as she listened to everyone's opinion. It really wasn't that hard to make friends. An idea came to her as she listened to the discussion. Reaching into her shoulder bag Evelyn expected to remove Outlander, instead she pulled out her collection of The Chronicles of Narnia. She opened the bag wider, the blue book was missing.

"He took my book." Evelyn said under her breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Evelyn did not make it back to her bed until late; she was not able to pursue the book snatcher until the next day. Her sleep was uneasy filled with dreams of her books being stolen and either burned to ashes or ripped to pieces. She awoke with a start. The sun was well past the point in the sky that usually marked her wakening time. She quickly snatched her messenger bag filled with her precious books and headed to the beach to meet Rose.

"I saw you last night, sittin' around the fire," Rose looked up at the young woman with a smile, "Seemed like everyone was enjoying your stories. I'm proud of you."

Evelyn returned her smile, "I can't talk today Rose," she hoped she didn't sound rude. There were other things on her mind.

"That's all right, honey. But don't let him get the best of you." Rose said with a knowing look. Evelyn gave Rose a second glance before she went in search of her book. Did she know Sawyer had stolen her book?

She headed towards the raft where Sawyer had been spending most of his time the last few days. When she arrived she saw Jin and Michael working diligently on the finishing touches. It wouldn't be long until the raft was sea worthy. They had already experienced one setback when the vessel was mysteriously burned. She stood and watched them for awhile; both men were working hard to accomplish the same goal. Michael wanted to get his son off of the island, and Jin wanted to bring help for his wife. Both of them were doing more than that though, they were giving the rest of the survivors hope. However, Sawyer was no where to be found.

"Excuse me, Michael?" Evelyn asked timidly. The artist and shipwright raised his head. "Have you seen Sawyer?"

"He hasn't shown up today, and if you see him, tell him to get over here or his ass is off the raft." Evelyn took Michael's words as dismissal and turned toward the other end of the beach.

She wandered around the beach asking everyone she met of they had seen the conman. Most of them said no, but a few said they saw him go towards the caves earlier in the morning. Evelyn turned off into jungle and followed the now-well-worn path to the caves. A few people were there but they had not seen Sawyer all day. Where could he have gone to? He didn't just disappear. She did not want to wander through the jungle looking for him, she might get lost. She didn't want to ask anyone to go with her because it was too dangerous of a mission for something as unimportant as a few pieces of paper bound together with glue. But it was important…it was important to Evelyn. Taking a deep breath to quell her frustration Evelyn headed back to the beach. If he wasn't there, she would go into the jungle by herself.

Evelyn walked back to the beach to continue her search. She asked the same people again if they had seen Sawyer. They all gave her the same answer; they had not seen him since the morning. Frustration mounting she rushed into the jungle. He was doing it on purpose, he was hiding. Branches snagged on her clothes as she walked through the thick foliage. It was a mean trick he was playing. Evelyn's mind wandered back to her school days and her schoolmates playing practical jokes on her. They weren't funny then and it wasn't funny now. Her anger started to surge causing her feet to carry her faster and farther away. A bare branch reached out and scratched her cheek. Ignoring the sharp pain, she put her head down and ran.

She did not know how long she had been running for but her chest was heaving when she ran smack into what felt like a wall. Evelyn realized it wasn't a wall when arms reached out and stopped her from falling down to the grown.

"What's the rush, Carrots? You're runnin' like the Others were after you." He looked at her with a smirk.

Evelyn took a step back and glared at him, hatred was seething from every pore.

"Whoa, Carrots what is that look for? What did I ever do to you?" She could hear the amusement in his voice.

"You stole my book, and stop calling me Carrots." Evelyn crossed her arms.

Sawyer still held the sardonic smile on his face. He reached down and picked up two books from the ground. One of them had a blue cover.

"I was just borrowing it…If you didn't already know there isn't much to do on this island." He held out her book to her. As she reached for it he quickly snatched it out of her reach. He chuckled at the look of irritation on her face. He held it out to her again. She just looked at him, not even acknowledging that he held the book.

"I'll give it to you this time. I promise." Evelyn slowly reached out for the book, but he snatched it away again. Evelyn clenched her jaw and crossed her arms again. It was all so juvenile. She remembered Rose's warning about letting Sawyer get the best of her and at the moment that was exactly what he was doing. He was playing with her for his own pleasure. She turned around and started to walk away. She had plenty of other books to read; besides if he was really borrowing the book he'd return it eventually.

"Hey, Carrots." Sawyer called after her, but she didn't take the bait. She kept walking, back straight and head held high. Evelyn heard the conman start to follow her.

"You are forgetting something." He said, "Stop walking. I'll give you your precious book back." She stopped and slowly turned. He stood with the book in his out stretched hand. She reached out and touched the book. They stood still and silent for a few moments, each holding on to the book. Evelyn could feel heat rising up her neck as she felt herself being examined under Sawyer's intense gaze. His blue eyes seemed to be reading every thought she had. He finally dropped his hand.

"Is this your book too?" He held up a romance novel. A man with flowing hair and rippling muscles held a swooning woman in his arms. Evelyn swallowed, not wanting to admit that the book was hers.

"Two romance novels. If I didn't know better…" A smirk cracked Sawyer's face, as Evelyn started to object.

"Outlander is not a romance novel, it's a historical fiction novel centered on a love story. The other one is for research purposes only." She explained, willing the redness in her cheeks to go away.

"It makes me wonder what else ya got in that bag. You seem to carry it with you everywhere. It must be pretty important." His voice was low and deep. For some unknown reason she took her bag and handed it over to him. She wanted to justify her choice in reading material. Taking the bag from her hand he opened it up and took out her books: "The Chronicles of Narnia", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "Crime and Punishment", "Sense and Sensibility", and "Heart of Darkness."

"Interesting…Why do you have all these books, Carrots?" Evelyn snatched the bag from his hand. She turned to leave for the second time, not wanting to suffer his scrutiny or teasing.

"Carrots?" Evelyn did everything in her power to not turn around, but something in him was stronger. As she turned back around, she remembered the look on his face when she called him James. She clamped her lips tightly together to hide a smile.

"James?" She could see his jaw working the second the first syllable was out of her mouth. He put his hands on his hips and started to stare her down. This time she wasn't intimidated.

"Why are you headed off so soon? We were getting along so well." His voice was laced with sarcasm.

"No we weren't James, and I'd love to stay and chat, but you are wanted at the raft." Evelyn flashed him a sickly sweet smile and left. She could stop smiling as she headed back to the beach. She learned something about Sawyer, she had something he wanted and he wanted it badly. She would have to keep an eye on her books. He also hated being called James, so if he continued to address her as Carrots, she would just have to keep calling him James.

Later that evening Evelyn joined Jack and Kate at one of the fires. They greeted her with warm smiles. They were soon joined by Michael and his son Walt.

"How's the raft comin' Michael?" Jack asked.

"Good, if we can get more help we should be done in a couple days." Michael said.

Jack nodded, "We'll see if we can get anyone else to help you."

"You need to give them a reason to help…just telling them that the raft could make it to a shipping lane isn't going to be enough." Evelyn spoke up.

"She's right." Kate agreed.

"What do you propose we do?" Jack turned his attention to the young woman. Michael also looked at her, but he didn't seem too pleased.

"If everyone were to write a letter or just a few sentences to a loved one or friend, and whom ever gets on the raft promises to deliver the letters. People would be more inclined to help." Evelyn kept her voice low, not to sure how they would take her idea.

"Yeah, that just might work." Michael seemed to agree. "But where are we going to get all that paper?" He seemed rather pleased with himself.

"I have enough." Evelyn said, "We'll need one of the water bottles to put all the letters in so they won't get wet."

Jack smiled, "Very good idea." He was pleasantly surprised at this young woman. She had spent the first couple of weeks on her own and now she was opening up to everyone. She had a lot of good ideas and seemed to have a level head on her shoulder. He had also been talking to Rose and she told him to give the young woman a chance. He was very glad he did. "I think you should be in charge of organizing that."

"Who's organizing what?" Sawyer asked as he sat on a rock, just opposite of Evelyn.

"Evelyn is going to organize, sort of a letter campaign. Everyone is going to write a letter to someone home, letting them know they are safe and will be home soon. The people on the raft will take the letters with them." Kate explained smiling at Sawyer.

"Is that so Carrots?" He smirked. Evelyn decided it would be best to ignore her tormentor.

Before calling it a night Evelyn enlisted the help of Hurley for the letter writing campaign. He still had the manifest so they could keep track of who had written a letter. A few of the survivors asked if Evelyn could tell them one of the stories she knew. She searched her mind for a more uplifting folk talk or short story.

Sawyer kept his eyes pinned on Evelyn the entire night. He watched and studied her movements and expressions as she told the story of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe. He couldn't figure out what intrigued him about the young graduate student. He wouldn't call her beautiful, she had interesting looks: rich red hair, dark brown eyes you could get lost in, lips that were neither too full nor to thin. She had spunk that went with her red hair but she tried to keep it suppressed. Evelyn was definitely innocent, he decided, she blushed every time he looked at her and when he suggested that the romance novels were for recreational purposes. Sawyer could tell that he was making her nervous. _This is going to be fun._


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

Evelyn sat below a palm tree at a desk made form empty suitcases. Earlier in the day she and Hurley had distributed pieces of paper and any writing instruments they could find. Hurley was at the other end of the beach collecting finished letters. She would go to the caves and collect letters when she was done with her own. As she put her pen to the page to start a new sentence a shadow fell across the paper. Looking up she saw Sawyer, he appeared larger than he was by blocking the sun. Before she could stop him, he snatched the letter from the "desk."

"What have we got here, Carrots?" Sawyer held the letter just out of reach. His blue eyes sparkled with mischief." Is this to your boyfriend or were you a kept woman?" He asked with a smirk.

"Kept women don't usually pursue a graduate degree." Evelyn responded trying to keep all annoyance out of her voice. She would not let him goad her into anger. Sawyer ignored her logical response and started to read the letter aloud:

"Dear Professor Goldberger, I regret to inform you that there has been another delay in my research project." He looked at Evelyn with a raised eyebrow. "Are you serious Carrots? We are stuck on an island with monsters, a crazy French woman, and God knows what else and that's all you've got to say?" He was surprised and annoyed. "All the other survivors are writing home, telling their loved ones they are still alive and how much they love and miss them. You've chosen to write to your professor telling him there's been a delay." Sawyer's voice stared to raise causing people to look in their direction.

One of those people was Jack. He watched them out of the corner of his eye. What possible reason Sawyer could have for yelling at Evelyn, he wondered. He noticed that the conman's attention had shifted from Kate to Evelyn; which suited Jack just fine. But he kept a watchful eye on Evelyn, he did not trust Sawyer.

Evelyn stood to her feet and took her letter back as quickly as it was stolen. Her anger was on the brink of rushing out but she kept it in. She could also feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she would not give Sawyer the benefit of seeing her cry. She kept it in. Looking Sawyer dead in the eyes she spoke, keeping her voice low and steady.

"Please don't call me Carrots." Slowly she turned and walked into the jungle.

Sawyer stood there staring after the redhead. He had only meant to tease her, but were there tears in her eyes? Suddenly he was jerked around by the shoulder.

"What did you say to her?" Jack asked anger burning in his eyes.

"Nothin' Doc." Sawyer responded in his usual sardonic way.

"Try again, Sawyer."

Sawyer crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't see how it was any of Jack's business.

"I was just giving her a hard time about her letter. She wrote to her professor and not a boyfriend." Sawyer shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"You don't stop to think do you? Did you ever consider the possibility that she had no one else to write to?" Jack kept his gaze steady on Sawyer. "You need to go fix it, before something happens to her in the jungle and you'll have even more consequences to pay." Jack turned and walked away.

Sawyer stood watching the doctor walk away. How could he have been so foolish? Gathering information about a mark was one of the first steps in conning people. He hadn't even bothered to find out about Evelyn's past. What kind of con-artist was he if he didn't follow the basics steps, even here on the Island? Was she even worth all this hassle? Something inside of Sawyer told him that she was worth it.

Sawyer turned and headed into the jungle, he couldn't track as well as some of the other survivors, but thankfully Evelyn had left a trail a blind monkey could follow. It didn't take him long to find the young woman sitting in a clearing; bits of paper were scattered about and her head was in a book. Sawyer sat on the ground next to her not saying a word. Evelyn didn't appear to notice him but he could feel her anger seething through the thin fabric of her shirt. They stayed silent; Sawyer didn't know what to say and Evelyn didn't want him to talk.

After a few moments or what seemed like hours because of all the tension, Sawyer reached over and took the book from Evelyn's hand. As he closed the book and laid it aside a smirk crossed his lips when he noticed it was a romance novel. Evelyn looked up at Sawyer with sad eyes. He could tell that she was trying to be strong.

"It's okay." He said gently, cupping a cheek in his hand. Those words and touch were a release; he could feel Evelyn's body relax against his side. Tentatively he put an arm around her shoulder. She buried her head in his shoulder and let the tears flow. The tears soon turned into frame wracking sobs. "I didn't know." Sawyer whispered.

When all her tears had been cried Evelyn was exhausted, she had released years of penned up emotions in just a few moments. She rested her head on Sawyer's lap and stretched out. Sawyer started stroking her hair, running his finger through her silky red curls.

"I don't have anyone to write to; I've never had anyone to write to." Evelyn started. Sawyer remained silent, letting the young woman take her time. "My parents died when I was a toddler, no one else claimed me, and so I bounced around from foster home to foster home. At the last foster home I was at, I found the body of my foster brother. I helped the police put the foster parents in jail." Evelyn took a breath before continuing on.

"School was the only thing I had, throwing myself into my studies. I put myself through college. I never had a boyfriend or very many friends. I was always moving and always to busy. So you see this island is a sanctuary for me, I am in no rush to get home, despite al the dangers here; it's a much better place."

Sawyer looked down at the young woman in his lap. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. It had been such a long time since he had shared such a tender moment with a woman. He could not have guessed Evelyn had been through such tragedy, he could see most people's emotional scars, but she had buried her pain deep.


End file.
